Toronto is home to some of the world's best Urban Art. So with this in mind Indelible Adventures is introducing Toronto Urban Art Photography tours beginning Friday July 10th to coincide with the opening of the Pan Am Games. To book or for more information please email terence@indelible-adventures.com Look forward to you joining me!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whenever I'm out with my camera two things generally happen. The first is that I get asked to take a lot of photos for people. "Hey this guy can take our photo, he must know a lot about camera's just look at his camera". Not that I mind, but being handed a point and shoot or better yet an iPhone to take a group shot isn't going to help them much in terms of the quality of shot...just sayin! Sometimes I'll even ask a family if they want me to take a shot of all of them - it's always nice to get a full family shot and often so rare!
The second thing is that I'll be
happily shooting away when someone will be curious enough to ask if they can
take a look at what I've just taken.
“Sure, no worries” is my normal response as I flip my Canon to display mode
and turn it to share it with them.
The most common refrain - “where is
that?” to which I smile broadly and point to the subject matter, this is then often followed by “how did you see that?” I
often shrug and say that it was the thing that screamed “pick me, pick me” the
loudest of all the subjects surrounding me. It truly is incredible but the simplicity of just walking with my camera
elicits a response deep inside of me that, irrespective of what it is, speaks to me, all vying for my attention
and for me to take the shot.
No, I'm not going crazy! (That’s your outside by the way) J
Interestingly, when I'm exploring with my camera I
often feel overwhelmed by the sheer variety of subject matter that surrounds
me, each with some inherent beauty that distinguishes them from everything else
around it...well at least for that moment!
Sometimes it’s the way the light hits the object, other times it’s the
composition, and yet other times it’s the juxtaposition of colors that intrigues
me enough to take the shot. Whatever that “something” is, I'm drawn to it
like a bee to a flower
Taking the photo is only part of the magic
of photography; I believe it’s the curating that actually makes the difference
between a good and a great shot.
Whenever possible I endeavor to curate the images the same day. Part of it is my A
type personality and other part of it is my excitement at adding new high quality
images to my library.
I often get asked what my approach is to
curating my work. The first thing I do
is a quick skim to take out the photos that aren't crisp (yep anything blurred
is automatically erased), next comes evaluating the duplicate images. I often
shoot, especially with sports or fashion in high-speed continuous mode and so get
sometimes up to 10 images of something that looks very similar to all the
others - this part is truly laborious as I search for the infinitesimal things that differentiate this image from that to find the best possible image...
Once this initial review has been completed
I start again and this time review each and every image and evaluate it on its
artistic merit. Just because I was drawn to take the shot it doesn't mean I was
able to capture it, so casting a critical eye over my photos and looking for
the unique beauty in the image is very important. As I go through this exercise I clean up any image that is off center or uneven, and most importantly the color balance and
definition so that I have the best possible image for my library.
On a good day when I'm traveling I often take between 500 – 700 photos per day, and so I need to spend
time keeping all of photos up to date.
I find that when I have a few days of photos backed up on my camera, not having the opportunity to curate them I feel anxious, especially knowing
what it takes to get it right.
Another question I get asked is – “How do
you set aside time to photograph each week?”
My first rule is that whenever, and I mean whenever I leave the house (nine times out of ten) I take my camera with me, even if it's only to walk to
the local shops, supermarket or in the neighborhood. It’s sometimes these impromptu opportunities that you
capture something unexpected and very special.
Like with most things in life - the more
you do it, the better you become so I endeavor to get at least two to three
photo shoots into my schedule per week. I've seen vast improvements in the last year especially in creating my own style.
It’s easy to see why my photo library has
27,185 images in it as of today (June 2015).
And that’s just the images that I choose to keep! If I do the math on my keep rate, let’s say
conservatively I keep 20% of all my images that means that I've taken almost 136,000
photos in the past four years or close to 34,000 per year. At that rate its about 93 photos per day, keeping about 20 on
average.
I have distant memories of photography BD
(before digital), not only was it much more expensive (given the high cost of
buying and processing the rolls of film) but the time it took to get your film
back and the quality of images was less than ideal. You really had to be a true enthusiast,
albeit with deep pockets to play in the world of photography in those not too distant days.
Can you imagine the cost of 135,000 photos being developed, then throwing away 80% of them? Yikes!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This weeks photos are a collection of recent shots taken in Leslieville and the Distillery district in Toronto's east end. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment